For example, during a manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer, a glass sheet is used as a member for supporting the semiconductor wafer in some cases. In this case, the semiconductor wafer includes a cutout portion called “notch” so that a crystal orientation of the semiconductor wafer is aligned with a predetermined direction, and the cutout portion is typically subjected to polishing.
For example, in Patent Literature 1, there is disclosed a method of subjecting a cutout portion of a semiconductor wafer to polishing. The polishing method involves pressing a disc-shaped polishing tool formed of a nonwoven fabric or the like against the cutout portion of the semiconductor wafer to be polished while rotating the polishing tool, to thereby polish the cutout portion into a shape corresponding to a substantially V-shaped outer peripheral portion of the polishing tool (paragraph [0027], FIG. 2 to FIG. 4).